Green scorecard shows blue, red divide

Legislature splits along party lines on environmental issues

BRIAN NEARING Staff write, Times Union

By BRIAN NEARING Staff writer

Published 12:01 am, Thursday, October 13, 2011

Rob Moore of the EPL/Environtmental Advocates announces the 2009 "Legislator of the Year" during the release of the "2009 Voter's Guide, The Guide to the Environmental Records of New York State Lawmakers" at a press conference at the Legislative Office Building in Albany, New York October 20, 2009.
(PAUL BUCKOWSKI)

ALBANY -- The environment remains a polarizing political issue in the Capitol, according to an environmental group that has ranked state lawmakers' voting records for more than four decades.

A report issued Wednesday by Environmental Advocates of New York painted a familiar picture -- Democrats were much more supportive of pro-environment legislation, while Republicans tended to oppose change.

"The environment is a polarized battlefield in Albany," said Rob Moore, executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York, during release of the group's 2011 voters guide.

The guide focuses on 36 bills from the last legislative session -- 28 bills supported by EANY and other environmental groups and eight bills that were opposed.

Of the 28 bills, seven were passed by the Democratic-run Assembly and the GOP-run Senate, and signed by the governor, and included laws to control large water withdrawals, to require street projects that seek state and federal funding to include planning for pedestrians, bicycles and mass transit, and to protect Allegany State Park from natural gas drilling.

Eighteen bills stalled in the Senate after passing the Assembly; two bills died in the Assembly, and one bill failed to clear either body.

Of the eight bills opposed by environmental groups, all passed the Senate, but were blocked in the Assembly. Those bills included increasing the size of off-road vehicles classified as all-terrain vehicles, suspending state gas tax collections on certain holidays, and removing strict liability for those responsible for petroleum spills

The average Assembly Democrat scored 101 on the EANY scorecard, while their GOP counterpart scored 62. In the Senate, the average Republican scored 57 and the average Democrat scored 83.

That partisan divide in lawmakers's scores continues a pattern consistent over years, Moore said. During the last four years, Senate Republicans' average score has dropped as low as 30, while Democrats' average has not been below 73.

The group gave its annual lawmaker award to Assembly member Barbara Lifton, a Democrat from Ithaca and an opponent of natural gas hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking. She sponsored a bill that would clarify local government authority over such drilling.